Many guitar players choose to use guitar picks to protect their fingers and/or because of the different sounds guitar strings produce when played with a pick instead of with bare fingers. The most widely-used pick design is thin, flat, roughly triangular in outline, and is usually grasped between a player's thumb and forefinger. A player must grasp a pick firmly to hold the pick in position, causing fatigue during extended playing sessions. Perspiration can make a pick slippery, forcing a player to grip a pick even more firmly and thus become fatigued more quickly.
The need to grasp a pick may be avoided by use of a pick that attaches to a player's thumb. A “thumb pick” usually has a rigid or semi-rigid loop that is sized to fit players whose thumb diameters fall within a certain range. The loop is often tapered and contoured so that the loop will slide partially onto a player's thumb, then jam firmly into position. A pick is either riveted onto or molded as part of the loop. Once a pick is too worn to be used the entire assembly must be discarded.
While sizing and contouring may secure a pick on a player's thumb it also limits placement of the pick to a specific position with respect to the end of the player's thumb, thereby limiting the player's range of techniques. Since player's hands vary in size and shape, a loop that is sufficiently rigid to remain securely in place is likely to fit poorly on many players' thumbs.